WHEN YOU’VE BEEN beating the drum as long as Eamonn Coghlan has, the emergence of further damning evidence is a source of great frustration.
It’s the morning after the publication of another set of distressing study results.
The Lancet medical journal has given rise to claims that Ireland will be the most obese nation in Europe by 2025. It’s hardly surprising but it doesn’t make the cold hard facts any easier to digest.
“It makes my blood boil,” Coghlan says. “I’m sick of studies and surveys because they’re all the same and have been telling us the same thing for the last twenty years, yet nobody listens.”
The former world champion, turned politician, has been leading the campaign to tackle the country’s obesity epidemic at national level for the last five years – and now he’s pushing for election to the Seanad’s Administrative Panel to advance the cause.
“I don’t need this but I want it,” Coghlan continues. “I got into politics to make a difference and as a nation we’re currently flirting around this problem, hoping it goes away.”
Last week’s study serves as another alarming wake-up call. Try as you might, there is no way to disguise it: Ireland is in the throes of an obesity epidemic and very little is being done to address it.
[image alt="Stephen Roche and Eamonn Coghlan" src="http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2016/04/stephen-roche-and-eamonn-coghlan-630x457.jpg" width="630" height="457" title="" class="aligncenter" /end]
The Government has been previously accused of ‘failing’ the nation for its lack of action and Coghlan has been working to change that.
He turned his hand to politics in 2011 when Enda Kenny appointed him to the Seanad as an Independent and he has since introduced the ‘Points for Life’ initiative to the Upper House.
It’s a scheme which places added emphasis on physical activity at primary school level, an area Coghlan believes needs to be targeted to disable the ticking time bomb.
“It was a great honour to be elected to the Seanad and much of my role has been working for younger people,” he explains. “I have grandchildren and even see it in them. Kids can sit inside all day with their screens, Nintendos or whatever they have, and that’s accepted as the norm now.
“In the athletics club I’m involved in, seven, eight, nine year-olds come down and their basic movement is really bad. I mean things like jumping and simple co-ordination but a few weeks with our coaches and they make such improvements. It’s so obvious for us to see.
“In primary school, teachers measure numeracy and literacy but not physical activity. PE is done as something on the side and that needs to change. We’ve been saying this for so long.
“My grandson gets in the car and if I don’t put my seatbelt on instantly, he’ll say ‘Grandad, put on your belt’. Why is that? It’s because they’re taught it from a young age.
“The same principle stands with physical activity, it can become second nature if young children are exposed to it.”
[image alt="Eamonn Coghlan" src="http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2016/04/eamonn-coghlan-3-348x500.jpg" width="348" height="500" title="" class="aligncenter" /end]
As one of Ireland’s most celebrated athletes, Coghlan’s opinion carries weight. The 63-year-old has been involved in top-level sport for most of his life and has worked tirelessly to promote physical wellbeing and exercise.
With the make-up of the next Government still uncertain as negotiations continue inside Leinster House, Coghlan admits there are seemingly more important issues on the agenda.
But the three-time Olympian, who won the 5,000m gold medal at the World Championships in 1983, knows better than anyone that the graph is only heading in one direction.
The warning signs continue to paint a worrying picture even though the underlying issues, the root of the problems, are blatantly obvious.
“I firmly believe we can take an allocation of funding from each department,” Coghlan adds.
“If you think of health, it would reduce the burden on the health system, for example so it would be worth taking funding an investing into it a nationwide scheme.
“I’ve been in sport all my life and now I want to make a difference. I’m not interested in political talk but proper talk. This is the health of our future generations, there is no political spin to it.
“As I said I don’t need to get elected but it is the most important thing I’ve done. Something needs to change now and whether I can help bring that about is another story but I believe I can.”
Whether he gets elected in the forthcoming Seanad election remains to be seen but Coghlan’s crusade against obesity will continue regardless.
He’s hoping, and desperate, a respected voice and someone who is emotionally invested in the area will finally stimulate action by those in power before further damage is caused.
Eamonn Coghlan is presenting a six-part sports entertainment series which will be shown free-to-air on Setanta Ireland for six weeks. ‘Super Fit Seniors’ airs each Monday evening at 7.30pm.
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